Commanders Post at The Warpath - View Single Post - why does congress want to look into"spygate"?

amorentz · 02-10-2008, 09:13 AM

The US government actually has a tremendous interest in this -- the NFL is granted an exemption from antitrust laws by Congress, and so for all intents and purposes the NFL as we know it operates only at the pleasure of the Congress. This exemption allows the NFL to negotiate game packages (ie NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV) that other regulated entities would never be allowed to negotiate, as well as set the standards for participation in the league (Maurice Clarett and Mike Williams come to mind -- I promise you the UA Pipefitters union can't place non-collectively bargained age limits on its workers).

Exemption from these laws is pretty much acts as a multi-billion dollar subsidy to the league by the US government. As a result, Congress has long asserted its right to monitor the sports leagues to ensure that they are being run fairly and for the benefit of the American public (see: baseball steroid hearings). This is also not the first time in recent memory that Arlen Specter has threatened the NFL's exemption; around a year ago he made the same threats based on the limited availability of the DrecTV Sunday Ticket package.

While in general I think Congress probably has "better" things to worry about, they really do have a pretty large interest in the way the NFL is operated. After all, if I was giving you special permission to run a sports league for free in my backyard, isn't in my interest (and within my authority) to make sure you're running it fairly?

02-10-2008, 09:13 AM	#5
amorentz Special Teams Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Washington, DC Age: 45 Posts: 368	Re: why does congress want to look into"spygate"? The US government actually has a tremendous interest in this -- the NFL is granted an exemption from antitrust laws by Congress, and so for all intents and purposes the NFL as we know it operates only at the pleasure of the Congress. This exemption allows the NFL to negotiate game packages (ie NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV) that other regulated entities would never be allowed to negotiate, as well as set the standards for participation in the league (Maurice Clarett and Mike Williams come to mind -- I promise you the UA Pipefitters union can't place non-collectively bargained age limits on its workers). Exemption from these laws is pretty much acts as a multi-billion dollar subsidy to the league by the US government. As a result, Congress has long asserted its right to monitor the sports leagues to ensure that they are being run fairly and for the benefit of the American public (see: baseball steroid hearings). This is also not the first time in recent memory that Arlen Specter has threatened the NFL's exemption; around a year ago he made the same threats based on the limited availability of the DrecTV Sunday Ticket package. While in general I think Congress probably has "better" things to worry about, they really do have a pretty large interest in the way the NFL is operated. After all, if I was giving you special permission to run a sports league for free in my backyard, isn't in my interest (and within my authority) to make sure you're running it fairly?